A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who
dissent
Dissent is an opinion, philosophy or sentiment of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or policy enforced under the authority of a government, political party or other entity or individual. A dissenting person may be referred to as ...
s (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc.
Usage in Christianity
Dissent from the Anglican church
In the social and religious history of
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
, and, by extension,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, however, it refers particularly to a member of a religious body who has, for one reason or another, separated from the
established church or any other kind of
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
who refuses to recognise the supremacy of the established church in areas where the established church is or was
Anglican.
[.]
Originally, the term included English and Welsh
Roman Catholics[ whom the original draft of the ]Nonconformist Relief Act 1779
The Nonconformist Relief Act 1779 (19 Geo. III c. 44) was Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The Act allowed any Dissenter to preach and teach on the condition that he declared he was a Christian and a Protestant; took the Oaths of Allegianc ...
styled " Protesting Catholic Dissenters". In practice, however, it designates Protestant Dissenters referred to in sec. ii. of the Act of Toleration of 1689 (see English Dissenters). The term recusant
Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation.
The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...
, in contrast, came to refer to Roman Catholics rather than Protestant dissenters.
Dissent from the Presbyterian church
The term has also been applied to those bodies who dissent from the Presbyterian Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church ...
, which is the national church of Scotland. In this connotation, the terms "dissenter" and "dissenting", which had acquired a somewhat contemptuous flavor, have tended since the middle of the 18th century to be replaced by "nonconformist
Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to:
Culture and society
* Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior
*Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity
** ...
", a term which did not originally imply secession, but only refusal to conform in certain particulars (for example the wearing of the surplice), with the authorized usages of the Established Church.
Dissent from state religion
Still more recently, the term "nonconformist" has in its turn, as the political attack on the principle of a state establishment of religion developed, tended to give way to the style of "free church
A free church is a Christian denomination that is intrinsically separate from government (as opposed to a state church). A free church does not define government policy, and a free church does not accept church theology or policy definitions fr ...
es" and "Free Churchman". All three terms continue in use, "nonconformist" being the most usual, as it is the most colourless.
See also
* Christian anarchism
* Dissident
A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...
* Freedom of religion
Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freed ...
* Organizational dissent
Organizational dissent is the "expression of disagreement or contradictory opinions about organizational practices and policies".Kassing, J. W. (1998)Development and Validation of the Organizational Dissent Scale/ref> Since dissent involves disag ...
* Protestant dissenting deputies
The Protestant dissenting deputies (also known as the Deputies of the Three Denominations of Dissenters) were a group in the 18th and 19th centuries in England, consisting of two representatives from each congregation of the dissenting denominatio ...
* Religion in the United Kingdom
Religion in the United Kingdom, and in the countries that preceded it, has been dominated for over 1,000 years by various forms of Christianity, replacing Romano-British religions, Celtic and Anglo-Saxon paganism as the primary religion. Rel ...
Compare:
* Spiritual Christianity
Spiritual Christianity (russian: духовное христианство) is the group of belief systems held by so-called ''folk Protestants'' (), including non-Eastern Orthodox indigenous faith tribes and new religious movements that emer ...
(dissenters from the Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
)
References
{{Authority control
*
Nonconformism